Esther Jun & Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
Kim’s Convenience is the first fully original Canadian play in Soulpepper’s theatre history. An instant hit at last year’s Fringe Festival, the play continues to delight audiences in their new home.
Written by Soulpepper Academy alumnus Ins Choi, this five-person play centres around the fate of a local family-run Regent Park convenience store whose existence is threatened by the process of gentrifying the neighbourhood. Part comedy, part prodigal son story, Convenience is a true Torontonian tale.
The set of Kim’s Convenience created by Ken MacKenzie is fabulously done and looks exactly like your local corner store—complete with energy drinks, fridges full of coloured beverages, bags of chips, gum and chocolate bars and household products.
Making their Soulpepper debuts are Clé Bennett, who acts as various black men throughout, Esther Jun as daughter Janet, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Appa (Mr. Kim), and Jean Yoon as Umma. The main characters of the play are really Appa and Janet and these two characters share the majority of the stage time. Bennett as Rich, Mr. Lee, Mike and Alex does a stand up job as various types of black men.
We don’t get to see much of Yoon or even the prodigal son Jung, played by Ins Choi, but when the two reunite on stage to the sounds of the pair humming in unison, it makes for a very touching scene to witness the interaction between mother and fractured son.
Kim’s Convenience is a lot of fun and like most other Soulpepper productions is well worth the price of admission. They simply put on fabulous theatre.
Soulpepper announced today that they will be adding performances of Kim’s Convenience with the entire ensemble returning.
The added performances of Kim’s Convenience will run from May 17 to June 9 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, located at 55 Mill Street, Building 49, in the Distillery Historic District.
Tickets are on sale now and range from $22 -$68 (plus service charge) and are available by calling the Young Centre box office at 416.866.8666 or by visiting soulpepper.ca. $22 tickets are available for 21-30 year-olds at stageplay.ca.
Photos by Cylla von Tiedemann
sending...
